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Division and Decision
January 30, 2000
Series on the Gospel of John
Pastor Dan Baumgartner
It’s
good to be back with you after being on a retreat with
the elders, up in the snow at Buck Creek last weekend.
And it’s fun to be in this different setting.
It’s
Super Bowl Sunday, that day when over 130 million people
will tune in to watch the football game between two teams
many people still don’t know exist…and 10
million of them don’t give a rip about the football
game…they watch SOLELY to see the new commercials
that are brought out and aired for $2 million per spot.
And in Atlanta, people are flocking to a stadium to watch.
Some of them, I think, will drive right by billboards that
a Christian group has paid for around the country. You’ve
probably seen them…they have just a brief message
which is always signed “God.” There’s
a number of them. The one I think most applicable reads, “Let’s
meet at my house before the game.” -- God.”
We
continue this morning reading in the gospel, John
7:35-52.
This
picture actually includes some high drama. But we understand
the setting of Jesus’ words here in order to understand
their power and relevance. Our passage starts out, “On
the last and greatest day of the Feast…” Now,
we know from the beginning of this chapter that this is
the Feast of Tabernacles. There were three major feasts,
or festivals throughout the year in the Jewish faith which
called people to pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Passover, Pentecost
and this one, Tabernacles, also called “Booths.” This
was a festival time which took place in the fall, around
mid-October on our calendars, and was a joyous celebration
of thanksgiving for the harvest, which had just been completed.
It’s
important to remember that Jesus existed in a world very
tied to agriculture, and therefore to weather. Some of
you grew up in that kind of environment. In the small town
in Idaho that my parents grew up in, I still remember the
farmers sweating and complaining over conditions that were
too dry, or too wet. Even today, with all of the technology
that influences farming, it is still imperative to have
the right combination of moisture and sunshine for growing
and harvesting, and there is an underlying tension until
the crop is harvested. But in Jesus day, this was even
more pronounced. The wheat, the barley, the grapes HAD
to be brought in…life literally depended on it.
And so this Feast of Tabernacles called people to Jerusalem
to celebrate the harvest.
At
the same time, the Feast of Tabernacles helped people to
remember God’s goodness in saving and guiding them
during the time in the wilderness after their escape from
Egypt. And so, during the eight days of this festival,
people constructed and lived in little temporary booths,
or shelters or tabernacles…on their rooftops, around
the temple, in open spaces. And they were not to build
them too solid, because they were supposed to be able to
see the stars, and feel the breeze, and be reminded of
their time of journeying under God’s care. And then
finally, the Feast called them to prayer for the future…particularly
for the rain that would be needed for the next crops. The
Feast, then, was a time of tremendous significance in Israel’s
spiritual life...the people came together to thank God
for the past salvation & care in the desert, to thank
God for the present (harvest has been brought in) and to
pray for the future (rain that would take care of their
needs).
Now,
HOW this feast was celebrated is very complex. But here
were a few of the elements: The feast ran for eight days.
The first and last days included solemn assemblies, holy
convocations, of the people. For the first seven days of
the festival, at dawn a priest would lead a procession
down to the Pool of Siloam, and with a golden pitcher,
draw some water. Then the procession would go back to the
temple. During a time of sacrifice and worship, the priest
would walk around the altar seven times, like the people
around the wall of Jericho, and the water would be dramatically
poured out, while the temple choir began singing what is
called the great Hallel, Psalms 113-118, ending with “Give
thanks to the Lord, for He is good, his love endures forever.” The
people gathered would wave palm branches and fruit tree
leaves, and repeat “Give thanks to the Lord…” It
was very dramatic, and you can see the critical place that
the water symbolically played in the whole week of activities…water
was, in a sense, God’s giving of life itself, and
all that was good.
Now,
on the eighth day, there was no procession to the pool,
but there was a gathering of the people on this last day.
Water has been present and celebrated each day, but on
this morning it is absent. And it is HERE that Jesus stands
and in a loud voice says: “If anyone is thirsty,
let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as
the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow
from within him.” I have a hunch…that you
could have heard a pin drop. Jesus has made an unbelievable
statement, right there in front of God and everybody. My
favorite way to begin worship is to start with Isaiah 55
that begins, “Everyone who is thirsty, come to the
waters.” But Jesus stands here and says, “if
anyone is thirsty…come to ME.” I am the One.
I am the water. If you want to have your thirst quenched,
your REAL thirst, not just a dry physical mouth, but the
thirst that rattles around inside of you all the time…come
to me. I long for you to come. I long for you to believe.”
The
people must have sat there in silence. No doubt some of
them heard only the talk about physical water, and dismissed
Jesus as some sort of quack. But others surely thought
about what their thirst was:
“Oh,
God. I am lonesome. I have longed my whole life to have
a real companion, a real friend.” Or “Oh, God,
I am so empty. I have longed my whole life to be part of
something that really mattered, to have a reason for living…” or “Oh,
God, are you really there? Life is painful and dark, and
you seem a million miles away…” I’m
thirsty.
I
felt really thirsty…almost exactly a year ago. We
were in Minneapolis, and it seemed to be getting increasingly
apparent that we should consider the possibility of coming
to Bethany to pastor. The very thought raised every possible
insecurity for me:
“How
could I return here? What would it feel like to be pastor
at a church with people I’d known for years? What
could I possibly have to offer? I wasn’t smart enough
or eloquent enough or experienced enough…I remember
journaling and agonizing with God: “I thought I had
it all figure out, thought I’d told you exactly what
I wanted my life to look like, and that had nothing to
do with Bethany…now I’m out here drifting,
not sure what I should be doing…and I need to know
where you are, God., I need you to show up.” I was
so thirsty.
And
so these thirsty people sat there, the words of Jesus washing
over them… “If you are really thirsty, come
to me and drink. Believe in me, believe in the God who
sent me…and you will taste the life of the kingdom
that is so good, you can’t even imagine it, streams
of water will fill you up and pour out of you.”
And
then what? “And then they all came to Jesus, and
had a big group hug, and they all agreed and they lived
happily ever after.” No. Actually, and then all hell
broke loose. As in several other key places in the book
of John, like chapter 9 or chapter 10, v.43 here tells
us “Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.” The
word actually is the word we get “schism” from,
there was a schism…division. Look at all of the
different responses in just these few verses:
a)
Some of the people were positive…but were a little
unclear what they were signing on for. “Surely
this man is the Prophet.” Moses, come again, a
second Elijah come to usher in the last days.” We
don’t know exactly WHO he is, but he’s obviously
somebody! Sure, I’m for Jesus.
b)
Others said simply, as Peter does in the gospels: “He
is the Christ.” He’s the One…of
whom Peter spouted out, “Lord, where else would
we go? YOU have the words o eternal life. We believe
and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
c)
Others said “Now, wait a minute. You’re getting
carried away. You need to be a little more cautious.
Something isn’t lining up…everyone says
this guy comes from Nazareth, in Galilee…but the
scripture says the Christ will come from Bethlehem. I
need to think about this a little further. I wouldn’t
want to do anything rash.
d)
The temple guards, sent by the leaders of the Temple
to arrest Jesus, tiptoe back in empty-handed, and are
confronted by the chief priests and the Pharisees. “Well,
where is he?” Their eyes are a little glazed over.
This wasn’t the easy assignment they thought it
was. This wasn’t the man they thought he was. They
had gone to arrest a subversive crackpot, and instead
found,“No one ever spoke the way this man does.” They
were shocked. The Pharisees were furious.
They were religious leaders. They knew how God acted.
They knew the scriptures. This was a guy who couldn’t
possibly know the law…he hadn’t come through
rabbinical seminary, wasn’t from any school they’d
ever heard of, not Princeton or Fuller, they knew they
themselves hadn’t taught him, and they knew that
God wouldn’t send some poor uneducated guy from
Galilee to teach them anything. They didn’t need
Jesus.
e)
But even amongst the Pharisees, there was schism over
Jesus. Nicodemus, a respected teacher reappears. We saw
him in chapter 3, going to meet privately with Jesus
under cover of night. Nicodemus timidly sticks his hand
up…he doesn’t exactly stick up for Jesus,
but he reminds the Pharisees of the law…a man
has a right to defend himself. And Nicodemus is interested
in hearing more from Jesus. He is intrigued…there
is something there. Nicodemus’ timid but accurate
reminder is snowed under by the derision of the Pharisees.
In
just a few verses there is great division over Jesus. Some
are willing but confused, some believe, some are cautious
and need to explore more carefully, some are bewildered
because He is so different from what they had been told,
some are adamant that they don’t need any water that
Jesus might be carrying. It sounds funny, but people are
often divided because of Jesus. We see it here in the first
century. We can trace through history, we see it today.
As people consider Jesus, there is division. And the reason
is….that coming face to face with Jesus calls forth
decision. And John’s gospel just keeps bringing us
face to face with Jesus.
Now,
if you are here this morning, and you have never made a
decision about Jesus Christ…that is, if you have
never chosen to turn your life over to him, never acknowledged
that he is the Son of God, or that there is a loving God
who would send His Son for you…then you may find
yourself in one of these places…like these people
who were divided. A little scared. Cognizant that life
may never be the same again, based on your decision.
You
know, our family went to watch the IMAX movie about Everes
t… where they filmed some of the actual locations
of an Everest climbing team. There was a place where the
team started REALLY climbing…and they had to get
across a crevass that was probably twenty feet across.
And they used a very surprising technique…they threw
an aluminum extension ladder across, and used it for a
bridge. That wasn’t what I expected…I don’t
know, maybe some sort of fancy synthetic web material or
something…just not a ladder like I clean my gutters
out with at home…sitting there at 24,000 feet.
There
was a real decision to be made for each person. At the
very beginning, they had to decide if they would step onto
that ladder or not. The camera seemed to be perched on
the shoulder of the cameraperson, staring straight down
into the crevass. It made my stomach turn to even look
at the screen. And they had to decide if they were willing
to start across. Maybe that’s what choosing to follow
Jesus feels like for you, or felt like for you years ago.
But you have to decide. Jesus says “Are you thirsty?
Come to me.”
But
that’s not the end of decisions. Inevitably, every
one of those climbers would get halfway across the ladder,
directly over this huge black space…and they would
hesitate…maybe a couple times. Should I keep going?
The ladder feels even more wobbly. CAN I keep going? I’ve
started…but now this feels different.
Those
decisions keep facing all of us as we continue our journey
of faith. Some of us might say sure, I became a Christian
a long time ago, and I trusted Jesus with everything I
had. But now I’m in a very different place. I don’t
feel close to God. Or I’ve lost a loved one…or
I’m in midlife crisis… …can I trust
God in this new situation? Is Jesus able to handle it?
We
had some friends in Minneapolis, Joel and JoAnne, who were
in their mid-thirties. Six months into her pregnancy…they
never figured out why…JoAnne’s baby’s
heart just quit beating. It was so sad. But she had to
go ahead and deliver it…and we all held this little
boy, and we cried and we prayed. We had a little service
in the chapel…it was really hard stuff. And when
I left, JoAnne came over and said: “Will you do something
for me?”
“Sure,
JoAnne, anything.”
“Will
you give YOUR kids an extra kiss for us tonight?” You
bet I would. Joel and JoAnne were strong Christians, had
been for years…but now they were in a very different,
very painful place…and in a sense, they had to decide
again…”Can you still be trusted, God? Even
when I can’t feel you, can I believe that you are
here, and that you care?”
Where
do YOU find yourself this morning? I suspect that for a
number of us, it is in a place where we’ve never
been before, and we need to decide again…will we
go to Jesus, and drink deeply?
John
keeps point us back to Jesus, urging us: “Believe.
Look at who He is, what He did and said…and believe.
Jesus is the one who comes, and holds out his arms, and
calls us still closer…and says “whoever believes
in me…will never be thirsty.”
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